Council Gives Preliminary OK to Ride-Sharing Plan

Los Angeles’ biggest employers would be required to develop ride-sharing programs or face fines of $100 a day under an ordinance given preliminary approval Wednesday by the City Council.

The measure, which was passed 11 to 2, would also require the submission of ride-sharing programs by owners of major office buildings and commercial centers shared by numerous companies.

Although council members Richard Alatorre and Gilbert W. Lindsay opposed the measure on grounds that ride-sharing should be voluntary, Councilman Marvin Braude said it was important to show Congress and federal agencies that Los Angeles is trying to do something about air quality.

Later, Braude responded to other complaints that the ordinance is not strong enough on enforcement provisions by saying:

“We made a judgment that it ought not to have onerous penalties . . . that we should bring people along, not threaten them.”

‘Working for Years’

He said he and city transportation officials have been “working for years trying to get this program through the Air Quality Management District and through the City Council.” The fact is, he said, “that the business community has been resisting; putting up all kinds of roadblocks.”

After meeting with industry leaders and working hard to get their cooperation, Braude said, “it is our judgment that this is a prudent beginning. Nobody has done this sort of thing before. It is imaginative and creative.”

He added: “The summary is: If we can’t encourage the business community and the public to start a ride-sharing program where you have the highest concentration of employees in large structures, then it won’t work anywhere.”

The ordinance, aimed at reducing both traffic and smog, will affect employers who have 700 or more workers arriving at jobs during rush hours. It will also affect owners of buildings with gross floor areas of 550,000 square feet in which there are 700 employees.

$750 Fee

Each of the affected employers would have to pay a $750 fee to the city and submit a plan designed to attain an average of 1.5 or 1.75 passengers per vehicle, depending upon the precise area.

Shopping centers, hospitals and large employers with staggered work shifts would not be affected.

About 70 companies and the owners of 38 other major work sites such as office buildings will come under the ordinance. Many of them already have such plans, supporters of the measure said.

Each business entity would be required to develop a plan subject to the approval of city staff, then face a daily fine of $100 if it fails to implement the plan.

Braude stressed that the ordinance would have “flexibility” to conform with each firm’s needs, without any criteria specified. Each plan and its implementation would be constantly reviewed by a task force.